Development of an immunochromatographic test strip for simultaneous qualitative and quantitative detection of ochratoxin A and zearalenone in cereal

BACKGROUNDOchratoxin A (OTA) and zearalenone (ZEN) are natural products of filamentous fungi that are harmful to humans and animals exposed to them even in extremely low concentration. The immunochromatographic test strip has become a popular diagnostic tool for detecting analytes. Its major advantages are that results can be obtained within 5-10 min, all needed reagents are included in the strip and it can be used to detect OTA and ZEN contamination in spots. In this study a colloidal gold-based immunochromatographic test strip of competitive format was developed for the rapid simultaneous qualitative and quantitative detection of OTA and ZEN in corn and other cereals. RESULTSThe test strip results with the naked eye showed that the sensitivities were 6 mu g kg(-1) OTA and 20 mu g kg(-1) ZEN in cereal, while those with a TSR3000 membrane strip reader showed that the IC50 values of OTA and ZEN were 1.7905 and 4.3514 ng mL(-1) and the lower detection limit (LDL) values were 0.7697 and 1.2000 mu g kg(-1) respectively. These results were confirmed by high-performance liquid chromatography. CONCLUSIONThe immunochromatographic test strip developed in this study could be used for the rapid simultaneous, qualitative and quantitative screening of OTA and ZEN in corn samples. (c) 2015 Society of Chemical Industry